Promises
by SourPlacebo
Summary: A short story I wrote after the AQW Zombies! Release probably around 2 or 3 AM. Involves near character death, romance/fluff, and some humor. Enjoy! First fanfic! Be nice. Edit: Guys, I'm aware Arty can't be turned into an undead, this was written before I found that out. Heh.


**_Please don't maul me. I wrote this shortly after the AQW Zombies! Release. It was very late at night and I was quite bored, so my brain thought, "WHAT A GREAT TIME TO WRITE A STORY!"_**

**_Just keep an open mind and try to enjoy the story. Have fun. Laugh! (whether its at the story or my silly ideas, I don't mind, as long as I can make you laugh! :D )_**

**_Note: I imagined this is DragonFable style/a more anime-esque style, not AQW. Keep that in mind when you're reading. _**

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**.:Promises:.**

Artix grumbled as he headed back to his camp. This war was getting WAY out of hand. There were practically zombies **everywhere**; it was frustrating! And that's coming from someone who enjoys killing zombies! He sat down near the fading fire in the middle of his makeshift camp and sighed. 'What more can we do? We're all getting close to our limits already, but we have to keep pushing! The people need us.' He though dejectedly. He pressed his palms against his temple as if he could push back the oncoming headache. He didn't even notice the fire in front of him flicker out or the heat from it slowly dissipate from his skin. He suddenly felt a tickling in his chest which soon turned into a burning pain. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain and switched from sitting to kneeling over, coughing loudly.

His right hand quickly flew up and pressed against his chest as he hacked. He cracked his eyes open as they watered and looked around. The green fog had drifted into his camp and surrounded him, quickly making its way into his lungs and chest. He coughed again and saw small red speckles of blood in the grass; his eyes widened considerably. For once in a while, he was scared, scared of what might happen to him. Usually, he'd charge into battle without a single worry about what may happen, but now that something was happening, he wasn't sure what to do. Not being able to actually learn paladin magic meant that he couldn't heal himself and fend off the zombie gas, and healing potions could only do so much; even the ones Alina made weren't strong enough to reverse death itself. He was broken from his thoughts by another coughing fit, this one shaking his entire body. His arm wobbled under his weight as he coughed, threatening to give out. He honestly didn't want to faceplant into the dirt because he doubted that would help his condition, most likely make it worse as it would lower his face deeper into the toxic cloud.

His arm just about gave out when he began to hear footsteps heading his way. Someone was running to him, but he couldn't lift his head up enough to see, he was too weak. He felt hands grab his sides and he was flipped over and pushed onto his back. "Relax." The voice was feminine, but his vision was blurring now. He saw red, silver, and gold, but that was just about it. No finer details. The fire beside him was relit, weird, he didn't even remember it going out. The heat flowed down to his face and brought some of the color back as he blushed. The fog began to die down as the heat and light spread, and he began to breathe a little more easily. His chest still burned, and he hadn't noticed it until now, but he could feel his heart rate pulsing in his ears; it was a little too fast for his comfort. His vision sharpened a bit and he could see his apprentice, Taini, leaning over him. She was slowly waving her hand in front of his eyes. "Please be alive." She muttered. Oh yeah, she couldn't see his chest rise and fall through his armor. He blinked twice and smiled at her. A small smile, but still a smile. He saw her sigh and lower her hand, and then felt something fiddling with the clasps on his armor. He tried to shift away; it made him slightly uncomfortable when people messed with his armor. It's not like there was something wrong with his chest, or that he had some gross scar on his chest, it was just a comfort thing. She growled and hissed out at him, "Do you want to die? I need to heal you, so sit still!" She was obviously frustrated, so he stilled himself and took some deep breaths. She finally got his chest plate off and removed the armor on his arms and hands as well.

He was completely exposed on his upper body. When he looked down, he shivered. All of his upper body down to the middle of his stomach was slightly discolored. He was pale, **greenish** and pale. He looked up at Taini, his fear showing through his eyes. He was about to say something when Taini shushed him. "Just be still and let me work. We can talk when you're in better condition." He hushed up and allowed Taini to resituate him. His head was now on her lap so if he coughed up anything, he wouldn't choke on it. Then Taini began to heal him. The weird thing about Taini's magic was that it worked better on contact than from a distance. Sure, she could flash heal him, but it might not heal everything. With close contact, the magic may work more slowly, but it's more thorough and bound to catch everything. Taini gently pressed her hands to his chest, a yellowish glow appearing around them; Artix felt his chest tingle where her hands were pressed and he sighed as the burning feeling slowly ebbed away from his lungs. "Augh!" he shouted as he felt a stabbing feeling in his heart. She must be only focusing on his lungs and not his chest as a whole. He bit his lip as a single tear slipped down his cheek. The fog that got inside him must be eating away at his heart now rather than his lungs, trying to kill him as quickly as possible. He felt her hands readjust and soon the stabbing pain slowly dulled. His entire upper body felt numb. He wasn't sure if he was in pain all over and his nerves killed the connection so he wouldn't feel it, or if her magic was just all over him now. He honestly didn't care anymore, as long as the pain was gone. He felt one of her hands gently brush the tear away from his face like how a mother would to comfort her child. She was so gentle sometimes.

He turned his head to look at her, but she didn't feel him looking at her, she was too busy concentrating on his chest. Eventually he spoke up, "Taini," he groaned. She looked over to him, now very attentive and aware of him looking at her. "You need to go help the others." She frowned at him and he could sense her about to argue with him. He quickly raised his hand to hush her. "I'm fine now; you need to go help the others. Please." She no longer looked angry, but worried and scared. He saw that her eyes were wider than usual. "But...but...I'm not entirely sure you're fully healed." She stammered. "I feel fine, and there," he stopped for a second to cough, "...there are people who need you more than I do right now." She still didn't move. "But what...what if you pass...pass away...while I'm gone...?" Her eyes were really watery now. He sighed. "I didn't think it'd come to something like this but," he raised his right hand and held out his pinky, "I promise not to die while you're gone." He smiled up at her, almost chuckling. It was so childish and silly, but then again, a lot of meaningful, memorable things they did were childish and silly. She looked at the gestured offered to her for a second before reaching up and wrapping her pinky around his, squeezing them together as if they were hugging each other. Her eyes close as a small smile bloomed on her face, the tears that had gathered in her eyes slowly slipping down her cheeks. "You idiot," she laughed quietly. She cupped his face in her hands and lifted his head up, lowering hers down as well to plant a small kiss on his forehead. He looked up at her and blushed. "You better keep your promise." She said, trying to look intimidating.

(Switches to Artix POV here.)

I couldn't help but chuckle. Taini looked up to the sky and saw storm clouds gathering above us. She quickly bent down and wrapped one of my arms around her shoulder, hoisting me up to stand and began to walk me towards my tent. I tried to walk with her, rather sluggishly, to escape the impending rain. When we got in the tent, she gently laid me down on my sleeping bag and brushed my hair out of my face. Again she said, "You better keep your promise." And stood up to leave. As she exited the tent I heard her mumble, "Or you'll regret it." And with that, she was gone. I sighed and turned onto my side. That was a close call with the fog; if she hadn't come back when she did, I might have turned. I shuddered, it was too close. Soon enough, I felt my eyes drifting closed and I allowed sleep to take me.

~LATER~

(Normal POV)

Taini arrived back at the camp, beaten and battered; tired from the fighting. She had saved many people and hid them in an underground hideout for now. She still had no idea when they'd actually be safe though. Her feet dragged as she neared the small tent. 'Darn Artix for putting his sleeping bag closer to the door.' She mused, but to be honest, she honestly didn't care where she slept at this point. She didn't even care if she ended up collapsing on top of him; she'd explain later. She quickly got to her sleeping bag, collapsing onto her knees. She still had to change from her armor into her pajamas. She had already learned better than to sleep in her plate armors. She glanced over at Artix to see the lower half of his armor outside his sleeping bag. Turns out he had the same idea. His eyes appeared closed, so she'd just have to take the chance. There was no way she was going out in the rain to change. She quickly removed her armor and slipped into a lose fitting black tank top and cloth shorts. 'Much better!' she mused. She quickly slipped into her sleeping bag and glanced over her shoulder again. Even after staying with Artix in the Necropolis while she was in early paladin training, she still never got used to the strange positions he slept in. Right now he was on his stomach, his head facing her direction while also being partially smushed against the ground, his right leg and left arm sticking out of his sleeping bag while his other arm and leg remained tucked in. To add on to his strange positions, he also snored. It wasn't that loud, but it was noticeable. Taini sighed, stretched out, and slowly slipped into her sleeping bag. She was soon out cold.

~NEXT MORNING~

Artix awoke comfortably the next morning. He felt relaxed and almost had completely forgotten about his near death/reawakening yesterday. He sighed and snuggled closer into his pillow. His wonderfully soft, fruity smelling pillow. He noticed that in his sleep he had wrapped one of his legs around this pillow...Lore, this is a long pillow! A body pillow perhaps? Did Taini even bring a pillow, because if so, this has to be her's. He also felt his hands tightly gripping the pillow in front too. It's just so comfy! It was then he realized 3 things about this pillow: 1) The part he was gripping in the front were actually 2 **separate** parts... 2) This pillow was **breathing**. 3) Pillows don't breathe...;

His eyes snapped open and he found his face buried in a mass of curly red tendrils. That explains the fruit smell. That also explains the two lumps in the front he's gripping. He blushed bright red when he realized exactly what those 'lumps' were and remember he also had his leg entangled with hers. Her back was up against his chest, and she either didn't mind him being cuddled against her like this or she hadn't woken up to find them like this yet. He began to try and move his hands away from his friend's chest when he heard her yawn and she stretched her arms. He felt her stiffen up against him and watched as her head slowly turned to gaze down at his hands.

'Thisistheendthisistheendthis istheendthisistheendthisisth eendthisistheendthisistheend thisistheend-' he though, waiting for her to blow up and yell at him. He felt her take a deep breath before trying to turn and face him, quickly detangling their legs also. When she rolled over, she didn't look angry, not at all. He knew how it worked with women though, the less angry they seem on the outside, the angrier they are on the inside. He quickly began to ramble on about how 'it was just an accident' and how 'he was asleep and couldn't control his hands' when she pressed a finger to his lips to shut him up. He could still see the sleep lingering in her eyes, a sign of exactly how late she stayed out. "Accidents happen," she groggily said, and then held her pinky up, "We both promise not to tell anyone about this little mishap?" she said with a tired smile. Artix chuckled and quickly wrapped his pinky around her own, mimicking the little pinky hug they did yesterday. "Of course." He smiled.

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_Hope you enjoyed it. Its silly and lame, I know. Hopefully my other stories will be better. XD_


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